Onslaught at Arda I, Part III: Rendezvous at Ord Radama
The Broker’s agents race against time to thwart the Empire’s plans for Jagomir... Agents Team Resistance * Gristle * Fai Mei * R0C-K4 "Rocky" * Sev-ak * Jiimb Ortuba * Kalno Kohr Team Recon * Derra Asbra * Hank * R2-M5 * Aiden * Goblin * Makren Duvel Mission Report (Resistance) Summary by Ben The crew is brought together to formulate a plan for recovering Senior Advisor Setenna Hase, recently kidnapped by the traitor and Imperial infiltrator Var Narek. Danel Qurno, the last remaining member of Arda I’s triumvirate, briefs the agents on the situation. He provides a shortcut to Ord Radama, the most likely planet that Var has fled to. Even with the shortcut, however, catching up to Var’s modified Jumpmaster might not be possible. Qurno and Renci put forth the plan of landing a small force on Ord Radama, an Imperial controlled world, to liberate the Advisor with the help of the local resistance. In order to facilitate moving around stealthily and escaping Imperial notice, the agents put together some simple disguises and leave behind any particularly noticeable pieces of equipment. The Alliance commanders offer the name of a local Rebel leader, Haril Zense, and point them toward the planet’s capital, which is also the Empire’s center of power on the world. With little time to spare, the crew boards the Sunflare and follows Qurno’s route through the numerous stellar anomalies spread throughout the space between Jagomir and Ord Radama. Aiden and Goblin tend to the navicomputer with the help of Gristle’s stims, navigating through asteroid fields, nebulae and between red dwarf stars. In the middle of the last jump, the Sunflare is pulled out of hyperspace by an Interdictor, and just as the ship is hailed, Jiimb turns it around and guns it toward the edge of the generated gravity well, able to keep far enough ahead of the pursuing TIEs that Aiden is able to punch in new coordinates and finish the trip to Ord Radama. Upon arrival, Makren pays off the spaceport authority in order to keep the Sunflare’s presence under wraps. Their point of contact, Haril Zense, has been known to frequent the Scarlet Sword cantina in Livien Magnus, so Gristle, Jiimb, Fai, Kalno, R0C and Sev-ak. head that way to make contact with the local cell. Inside the Scarlet Sword, the team fans out and quickly spots Haril, just as described. They notice that he, along with several other people around the cantina, look a little more drunk than they should be. Gristle moves over with R0C to establish contact, and Haril quickly recognizes the significance of their presence. He drops a message for Gristle to clandestinely pick up, detailing a meeting spot and a time. Everyone leaves the cantina shortly after, waiting until the designated meeting time to head to the slums of Livien Magnus. Along the way, some humans harass the nonhumans of the group, but R0C tries to counteract it by instilling a little confidence. Proceeding on, the agents find Haril’s meeting spot, but relocate due to the small scene R0C may have caused. When they’re finally able to catch up, Gristle informs their contact of the happenings on both Arda I and Jagomir, as well as giving him a small briefing on their mission on Ord Radama. Haril doesn’t seem confident in their odds of pulling off a rescue, and explains that the local leaders are eager to declare war on the Empire and won’t offer their help to the Alliance unless they plan on doing some all-out fighting. Given the circumstances, the team thinks they’ll be able to change the leader’s mind, so they offer to meet with her to attempt to gain the resistance’s support, now that there’s a potentially very dangerous mission for her to put her resources behind. On the way to meet with the local leader, the team is stalked again by the thugs from earlier, and before they make it too far, the humans attack with stun pistols, aiming for R0C, who’d earned their curiosity earlier. R0C takes Gristle’s staff of office to engage the thugs and knocks one of their number clear out, shattering his jaw with the crest of the staff. Sev-ak lands a series of slices on another thug, taking him down quickly, but they do manage to land some stunning shots on R0C’s chassis. An ally of theirs steps out from an alley nearby and fires off a shot at Gristle, which contacts but doesn’t break through one of the hidden plates on his tailored jacket. R0C downs another of the thugs, but the agents very quickly realize that the thugs aren’t just riffraff, but Imperials in disguise. Their leader pulls out a comlink and speaks into it, and the sound of TIE fighters soon fills the district. The “thugs” begin to retreat, so the team follows suit, heading in a different direction to dodge the impending strafing run. Gristle and Kalno spot a familiar devlikk nearby, who ushers them down an alley. R0C and Sev-ak grab one of the thugs and drag him along, following the devlikk to a sewer grate, which R0C promptly rips open to provide a quick escape. The devlik leads them down through the sewers until they find a chamber filled with bioluminescent fungus and many other devlikks. They’re introduced to their apparent leader, Narala (sp?), who also happens to be the one Haril had mentioned. Fai informs her that the thugs above were actually Imperial agents, and that her assistance may be required with something. Gristle explains the issue, and Narala seems reluctant to lend aid, given her people’s history under the Empire’s heel. However, Gristle and R0C are able to convince her to lend information and reinforcements. She explains that Var Narek is on-planet and at his family’s estate, but that he hasn’t released Setenna yet, due to some sort of internal conflict. She is willing to offer 20 devlikk fighters to aid the agents in taking Setenna back, in addition to the rebel fighters Haril is already supplying. The agents inform the other team that they have new information and resources, and begin interrogating the captured Imperial agent while they wait for the others to arrive. The agent throws back, and Fai notices that he’s dislodged a poison capsule from his back tooth. R0C immediately holds his mouth open while Gristle reaches in to extract the capsule before it can rupture. He’s still very stubborn but Fai is able to break him. He tells her that his team had been a part of the Empire’s effort to track down the local rebel cell and resistance. He also lets loose that Var Narek’s handler, a man named Jacaos, hasn’t been heard from recently. He and Narek are both part of Imperial Intelligence, which is often at odds with the ISB, which has also just shown up to operate on the planet. The other team soon arrives, and with time of the essence, the operation proceeds immediately. Fai and Goblin go to stage a controlled “terrorist” bombing at a nearby opera house to divert attention while the other agents accompany the devlikk fighters and rebels in a series of speeders that the other team had procured with the help of Borga, who owns an establishment within the city. Gristle, Derra, Makren, R2 and Kalno decide to infiltrate the manor to recover Setenna while the forces outside engage the Imperials. R2 fires an ascension line up to one of the second floor windows, and the others use it to scale the wall into the estate. From the bedroom, they range out to explore the top floor, finding much of the estate in rough shape. R2’s scanner picks up a group of life signs to the north, beyond a set of doors, and Gristle moves over to listen by the doors. He catches the sound of at least ten individuals inside, some obviously in armor. Just then, however, the fighting begins outside. Meanwhile, Makren climbs up to a side window, but is spotted by Var Narek, who draws his blasters and tries to force Makren away. However, Makren’s able to climb in to confront Narek, putting his hands up and presenting some information he’d gathered earlier: Var’s parents had been killed by an Imperial plot, not by rebels as he had originally thought. He refuses to listen and shoots back at Makren while the others storm the opposite room, tossing in concussion grenades in an attempt to hinder the nearby Imperials, including Jacaos. R2 breaks into the Imperial comm frequency and starts generating an ear-splitting tone to disrupt and distract them. Makren takes out the hologram R2 had supplied earlier, containing an interview with the person who’d uncovered the Imperial assassination of Var’s parents. Var is shaken by this, but still refuses to believe, although he starts to break down. At the same time, Makren notices a tracking device on the man’s wrist. Gristle helps patch up Derra’s wounds after she takes a hit and proceeds into the room, stealth field intact. In the confusion, he slips into Var’s chambers and takes the distraught man by force, dragging him over to the window with Makren before the three bail out together. Meanwhile, Derra, R2 and Kalno retreat from the room, closing the door and fusing it closed behind them. Makren takes the tracking device from Var’s wrist and, using it, finds Setenna’s position and relays it to the other team, who move to recover her. Jacaos takes a shot at Var as Gristle bails out with him, wounding the man. When they make it to the front of the manor, Gristle sets him down and patches up his wounds while Setenna is secured for evac, completing their mission. Category:Shadow of the Broker Missions